Chapter 11

Question 1

What are total rewards?

Answer 1

An integrated package of all rewards (monetary and non-monetary, extrinsic and intrinsic) gained by employees arising from their employment
Aligned with business strategy
Pay is a perception of worth by an employee

Question 2

What are the five components of total rewards?

Answer 2

Base compensation –wage vs. salary
Benefits
Work-life programs
Incentive, performance and recognition pay
Development and career opportunities

Question 3

Describe different types of base pay?

Answer 3

Hourly Wage
Work paid on an hourly basis. Calculated by hourly rate x number of hours worked.
Salaried Workers
Employees whose compensation is stated on an annualized basis and then paid to employees usually semi-monthly.
Gross vs. Net Pay

Question 4

What are some of the basic considerations in determining base pay?

Answer 4

Legal Considerations in Compensation
Employment/Labour Standards Act (Canada Labour Code) 
Pay Equity Acts
Human Rights Acts
Canada/Quebec Pension Plan
Workers’ Compensation Laws
Employment Insurance Act
Union Influences on Compensation Decisions
Compensation Policies
Equity and Its Impact on Pay Rates

Question 5

What is pay secrecy and what are arguments against it?

Answer 5

An organizational policy prohibiting employees from revealing their compensation information to anyone.
Creates misperceptions and distrust of compensation fairness
Arguments against secrecy:
Potentially lowered employee performance and motivation.
Generalized distrust of employer

Question 6

What are stages in establishing pay rates?

Answer 6

Stage 1: Job Evaluation
Stage 2: Conduct a Wage/Salary Survey
Stage 3: Combine Job Evaluation and Salary Survey Information to Determine Pay for Jobs

Question 7

What are the activities at the job evaluation step for establishing pay rates?

Answer 7

Job Evaluation
systematic comparison to determine relative worth of jobs within a firm
Benchmark Job
job that is critical to the firm’s operations or commonly found in other organizations
Compensable Factor
fundamental, compensable element of a job, such as skill, effort, responsibility, and working conditions

Question 8

What are two job evaluation methods?

Answer 8

Classification/grading method

Point method

Question 9

Describe classification/grading method?

Answer 9

classification/grading method categorizes jobs into groups (classes or grades)
classes contain similar jobs
grades contain dissimilar jobs of equal difficulty

Question 10

Describe point based method and what are the steps?

Answer 10

Identify compensable factors
Determine the degree to which each factor is present in each job
preliminary steps
determine factor weights and degrees
assign points for each degree of each sub-factor
evaluate the jobs

Question 11

Describe wage/salary survey?

Answer 11

a survey aimed at determining current market wage rates
a good salary survey provides specific wage rates for comparable jobs
formal written questionnaire surveys are the most comprehensive

Question 12

What are the ways to combine job evaluation and wage survey to determine the pay?

Answer 12

Wage Curve: a graphic description of the relationship between the value of the job and the average wage paid for this job
Pay Ranges: a series of steps or levels within a pay grade, usually based on years of service
Broadbanding: reducing the number of salary grades and ranges into just a few wide levels or “bands”, each of which then contains a relatively wide range of jobs and salary levels
Red Circle Pay Rate: a rate of pay that is above the pay range maximum

Question 13

What is pay equity?

Answer 13

Providing equal pay to male-dominated job classes and female-dominated job classes of equal value to the employer
Wage gap: average pay for males is 30% higher than average pay for females
Pay equity has narrowed the wage gap, but not eliminated it

Question 14

What is BC Empoyment Standarts Act reulation on paydays?

Answer 14

Employees are to be paid all wages earned in a pay period at least semi-monthly and within 8 days after the end of the pay period.
This does not apply to overtime wages credited to an employee’s time bank or vacation pay

Question 15

What is BC Employment Standarts Act regulations on termination?

Answer 15

An employer must pay all wages owing to an employee within 48 hours after the employer terminates the employment relationship.
An employer must pay all wages owing to an employee within 6 days after the employee terminates the employment relationship

Question 16

What is BC Employment Standarts Act regulations on how wages should be paid?

Answer 16

An employer must pay all wages:

a) in Canadian currency
b) by cheque, draft or money order, payable on    demand, drawn on a savings institution
c) by deposit to the credit of an employee’s account in a savings institution, if authorized by the employee in writing or by a collective agreement

Question 17

What is BC Employment Standarts Act regulations on hours of work and overtime?

Answer 17

An employer must ensure that no employee works more than 5 consecutive hours without a meal break and that each meal break lasts at least 30 minutes.
An employer must pay an employee OT wages …the employee works more than 8 hours a day or 40 hours a week”
An employer must ensure that each employee has at least 8 consecutive hours free from work between each shift, unless an emergency.”